Carolyn E. Sartor, PhD
Associate Professor of Psychiatry
Program of Research: Etiology of Alcohol and Other Substance Use Disorders, Gender and Racial/Ethnic Differences, Trauma Related Psychopathology, Gene-Environment Interplay. Dr. Sartor’s program of research centers around the development of etiological models of substance use disorders that reflect variability by gender and race/ethnicity in the relative contributions of risk and protective factors. I conduct genetically informative investigations within a developmental psychopathology framework, drawing primarily from twin, family-based, and high-risk design studies with repeated assessments covering the adolescent to young adult years. Characterization of the role of childhood trauma in the development of early and problem substance use, including identification of distinctions by gender, race/ethnicity, substance, developmental period, genetic vulnerability, and stage of substance use, is a core aim of my research program. My work primarily focuses on the longitudinal course of substance use but also includes the examination of short-term patterns of substance use and their relation to contextual factors, as assessed through web-based diary methodology.
Distinctions between Black and White young women in the course of alcohol use (NIAAA R01AA023549): Building on the documented differences between African American and White young females in the prevalence of alcohol use, alcohol use disorders (AUDs), and risk factors associated with AUDs, this secondary data analysis project is designed to address three key aims: (1) Identify distinctions between African American and White young women in the timing of transitions between stages of alcohol use and of initiation of alcohol relative to marijuana use. (2) Examine differences by race in factors that contribute to early trauma and parental monitoring as well as the subsequent influence of these early environmental factors on alcohol outcomes. (3) Explore sources of variability in the contribution of early trauma and parental monitoring to the progression of alcohol use (e.g., interaction of early trauma with genetic liability to AUDs). Data are drawn from three large-scale studies of alcohol use and related psychopathology in young African American and White women, with a total of 6,828 participants, 33% self-identified as African American. The three samples were ascertained through distinct study designs: community-based with oversampling of low income neighborhoods, twin, and high-risk family, each informative for considering the contribution of socioeconomic factors in the examination of racial/ethnic differences and for identifying familial influences on drinking behaviors and co-occurring conditions.
Stress, Personality, and Health Outcomes (Virginia Commonwealth University): This pilot project was developed with investigators at Virginia Commonwealth University with the goal of identifying psychosocial factors that may account in part for observed differences in substance use between African American and White young adults. The study makes use of a construct that to date has been limited to PTSD studies, perceived susceptibility to negative events. In addition to assessing for possible distinctions by race/ethnicity and gender in this construct, we examine its association with exposure to traumatic events, discrimination, childhood neighborhood characteristics, substance use, and trauma related psychopathology, using a racially/ethnically diverse college sample of women and men.
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Patricia Simon, PhD
Associate Research Scientist
Project Theme (s): Vulnerable Populations and Community, Training, Consultation and Capacity Building, Community Engaged Research, Substance Use and Mental Health
Research Description: Dr. Simon’s research aims to 1) identify of risk and protective factors for substance use and academic problems and 2) develop interventions to prevent substance use and high school dropout. Guided by an ecological framework, Dr. Simon’s work examines the differential effects of individual characteristics, as well as family, peer, school, neighborhood, policy and social/cultural contexts on substance use and academic achievement among low-income and racial/ethnic minorities. With regard to intervention development, Dr. Simon is currently developing a comprehensive academic advising curriculum that is guided by motivational interviewing.
Exploring the Link between Socioeconomic Status and Polytobacco Use: This study uses longitudinal data (waves 1-3) from of the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) Study, a nationally representative survey, to: 1) Replicate the associations between SES and polytobacco use latent classes observed in Connecticut; 2) Examine transitions across polytobacco use latent classes over time and SES’s contribution to changes in class membership over time; 3) Examine whether individual, family and marketing variables mediate the relationship between SES and polytobacco latent classes; and 4) Examine race/ethnicity (and other variables) as moderators of: a) the effect of SES on polytobacco and b) the intervening effects of individual, family and marketing variables on polytobacco latent classes. Identifying polytobacco use latent classes associated with SES and mediators and moderators of this relationship will allow the FDA to target distinct user groups with tailored counter-marketing messages and establish advertising bans to reduce tobacco use disparities between high and low income youth.
Motivational Interviewing-based Academic Advising (MIAA) for Urban Youth: Motivational Interviewing (MI) is a client-centered counseling method that has effectively promoted positive behavior change (e.g., abstinence from substance use, weight loss and medication adherence). There has been increasing interest in adapting MI to promote academic achievement. This project aims to develop and evaluate an MI-based academic advising (MIAA) program to promote academic achievement among low income, urban high school students. We will also examine intervention effects on potential mediators of intervention effects such as academic engagement, academic competence, perceived connectedness, perceived autonomy, discipline referrals. Results will indicate whether MI is a viable intervention to promote academic achievement among low-income minority youth and point to mechanisms that may enhance intervention effects.
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